No. 10 Ohio State Sweeps No. 22 Purdue, No. 21 Iowa and Northwestern

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Ohio State men’s swimming and diving team opened up Big Ten competition on Friday night by defeating No. 22 Purdue, No. 21 Iowa and Northwestern at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. With the wins, the Buckeyes move to 8-0 on the season.

Ohio State was led by Alex Miller, Josh Fleagle and Matt McHugh, who all won multiple events. Fleagle was a part of two relay teams that took first place while also finishing first in the 100 freestyle and second in the 50 freesyle. Miller was first in the 1000 freestyle and 500 freestyle while McHugh swam on two winning relay teams and also took first place honors in the 100 butterfly.

Steven Zimmerman earned a second-place showing in the 100 backstroke (48.92) while teammates McHugh (49.44) and McDonald were not far behind in third and fourth place, respectively.

Tamas Gercsak had a second-place showing in the 200 butterfly, setting up the next event in which Fleagle finished second to Purdue’s Danny Tucker in the 50 freestyle. In the 100 freestyle, however, Fleagle beat out Tucker for first place, marking the first time this season that Tucker did not win an individual event.

Ohio State gained even more strength when McDonald and Zimmerman went one-two in the 200 backstroke with times of 1:47.05 and 1:47.16, respectively.

Miller claimed victory in the 500 freestyle (4:26.49) which lead to another first-place showing from McHugh in the 100 butterfly (48.30). In that event, Ohio State had the top four finishers, which included Ryan Bubb (second, 49.56), Mark Belanger (third, 49.65) and Trebilcock (fourth, 49.95).

The Buckeyes closed out the night with a win in the 400 free relay from the team of Komarov, DiSalle, Hillmer and Fleagle (2:58.58).